“Can’t argue with you there,” he said with humor lilting his voice.
We had picked at the food while talking, though I didn’t think we had finished eating when Drew started to pack it all away. “Did I upset you? If so, I didn’t mean—”
“What? No. Why would you think that?”
I blinked at him a few times, wondering if I’d gone blind and just started imagining things. When I realized that wasn’t the case, I gestured with an open palm to the food he was putting away and asked, “If I haven’t pissed you off, why are we leaving? The sun hasn’t even reached the point of no return yet.”
Mischievousness twinkled in his eyes while his smile grew wider by the second. “We’re not leaving. Well, we’re leaving this spot, but we aren’t heading back in quite yet. I have one more surprise for you.”
“Please don’t tell me I’m going to have to wait hours for this one, too.”
“No, not even close.” Laughter filled his words, curling my lips along with the sound.
It took a lot of effort on my part, but I didn’t pester him for hints or guesses. Instead, I helped pack all the containers away in the bags and returned to my spot next to him behind the steering column.
To my complete surprise, Drew slowly headed toward the steeple. In the back of my mind, I wondered if his intention was to drive through again, like the other day, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up. That had been an experience I would never in my life forget. I’d carry it with me no matter where I went, so the prospect of having that experience twice flooded my senses with excitement, hope, and complete happiness.
As he bypassed the opening and steered us along the side, my bubble popped. I wasn’t upset, only slightly disappointed. I had only myself to blame. That’s what I got for expecting something. Unintentional letdown.
So imagine my surprise when he changed the direction of the boat as we came around the back of it, the side where we exited last time. I didn’t say anything, though. I didn’t ask questions or interrupt his intense focus as he navigated us through the jagged opening and into the dome of the steeple.
“I don’t know if you remember or not, but when we came out here the other day, the current guided us from one side to the other. I’m not interested in a quick in-and-out drive-through this time.” He changed the gears until the motor was on just enough to counteract the current coming at us from the other opening. “I thought you might want to watch the sunset from inside.”
My heart practically jumped out of my chest and into his.
Without waiting for a response, he quickly moved about the boat, grabbing this from there and that from here, crossing this over that and hooking that to the other thing. Before I knew it, we were tied to grommets, both at the back and front of the boat, the rope stretching enough to keep us relatively in the same place. He’d also hung white bumpers over the side, presumably to keep the boat from repeatedly knocking into the heavy stone wall.
Taking my hand, he led me to the space in the front where we’d just enjoyed an amazing meal beneath the watercolor sky. “I want you to know how amazing this week has been, and I have you to thank for that, Kenny. You don’t know this, but prior to you coming here, I felt lower than low. I felt like giving up and just going through the motions of life like my dad does. Day in and day out. But then you came along, and you helped me break free from that thought process. I honestly can’t thank you enough.”
Not expecting to hear that, I was at a loss for words.
He must’ve sensed my inability to speak, because he jumped right back in and filled the silence with his beautiful, gravelly voice. “This was only ever meant to be a bit of fun. A moment of companionship. A break from the loneliness that encompassed my every waking hour. But like I told you the first night I met you…I feel like I know you. This entire time, you haven’t felt like a stranger to me. I honestly believe this isn’t the first time our paths have crossed.”
My silence only worsened, making it extremely difficult to even form sounds at this point.
I couldn’t do anything more than sit there, struggling to turn the sound of my racing heart into actual words—as in, with real definitions and everything. The bottom line was that, in the morning, this would all be over. It was out of our hands. Regardless of how either of us felt, it wouldn’t change the fact that I couldn’t stay. And he couldn’t leave.
Rather than say anything else, I offered a tight grin and a one-shoulder shrug.
This wasn’t who I was; I wasn’t the type of girl to catch feelings for someone who was as permanent in my life as my next breath. Then again, I also wasn’t the one who’d jump into bed with just anyone, yet I’d done that, too.
I quickly learned that maybe I didn’t know myself as well as I thought. I didn’t have a clue as to what I would or wouldn’t do with him or the next guy. Until Drew, I thought I had a firm grasp on the kind of person I was; I thought I fully understood my character. However, Drew had managed to pull the wool from my eyes and show me the truth. The cold, ugly, hard truth that everything I thought I was, was nothing more than an illusion I’d subconsciously convinced myself of being.
But as I lost myself in the sight of him, the falling sun painting him in shades of burning flames, I realized something. Maybe it hadn’t all been a lie; maybe I did know who I was. Perhaps I just needed Drew to pull it out of me.
Without thinking, I practically lunged toward him, wrapping my arms around his neck at the same time our lips met. That was when the world fell silent.
That was when more of the puzzle pieces fell into place.
And that was when I fell. Only I hadn’t been met with concrete. Instead, I’d fallen right into Drew Wheeler’s arms. Safe. Warm. And where my soul was always meant to be.
Although, the problem still remained; I had no idea how to reconcile the realization with the fact that I would be leaving in a little more than twelve hours.
I didn’t want to leave.
But I couldn’t stay.
Chapter Eighteen
Drew
I had tossed and turned all night, and when I did manage to fall asleep, it was never for very long. Images of Kenny, so vivid there was no way they were dreams, woke me up nearly every hour.
At first, they were of her eyes, and how the sunset had made them appear brighter than I’d ever seen. Then, flashes of her smile, the pink deepening in her cheeks, and the sound of her hushed giggles stirred me awake. But what kept me up the most was the memory of how soft her skin felt against mine as we made love on the bow of the boat as the sun set on our time together.
That had to be the most amazing moment of the entire week. No, my entire life. It was so incredible that I didn’t want it to end. Unfortunately, Kenny wanted to sleep alone last night, claiming she would be a chaotic ball of stress and didn’t want me to witness it. If I could’ve changed her mind, I would have, but it seemed Kenny could be pretty stubborn when she wanted.
So now, I did my best to ignore the tightness in my chest—along with the extreme exhaustion weighing me down—while waiting for Kenny to check out of her stay at the resort. When I’d dropped her off at her cabin last night after our evening on the water, I had offered to pick her up and help get her luggage to her car, but much like with my offer to stay with her, she turned me down.